President Donald Trump has called Democratic leaders’ bluff on their mumbled threats to block the 2018 budget if it did not include the unpopular ‘Dreamer’ amnesty.

Trump’s high-pressure tactics on Tuesday prompted the Democrats to quit the scheduled 3 pm high-visibility sit-down with GOP leaders at the White House, where they would have been forced to escalate their threats or else to admit their bluff to the waiting media.

The retreat left amnesty advocates in the lurch, despite months — and years — of media-magnified claims that the American public wants a no-strings amnesty for the 3 million ‘dreamers,’ plus their millions of chain-migration relatives. Trump’s win sets the stage for debate over funding for the border wall and then — perhaps — for a February debate about an immigration rewrite that benefits Americans.